Finding You
by Blushing.Violet
Summary: It was the least likely of times she ever expected -him- to be around. ...Not that she was complaining about it, at all. Chad x Kelsi. Chelsi? Oneshot.


_~**F**i**n**d**i**n**g** **Y**o**u**~_

She sits at the eyes of the keys; they wait patiently for her. Unnerved, gracefully calm. They have all day. She doesn't.

She bits her lip as she watches a finger creep up to them; shamelessly attempting to hit whichever note and sing whichever song it wants to. The ebony and ivory coax her, graciously relieved at their permission to fill the auditorium with love and life.

Her finger withdraws and freezes, as if hopelessly betrayed. She picks up her pen, marked with the name of her mother's hospital scrawled across it. Tapping it thoughtfully, she continues to gaze, almost absently, at the small piano.

Lip still wedged between her teeth, she sets it down with utmost carefulness and sighs, deeply. The clock across the room creates a metronome effect. A few sparse notes lay scattered helplessly on their elaborate sheet.

It's happening again.

For the past two Wednesdays, three and a half Mondays (two if you exclude the fire drill and the homework/music sheet swapping incident) the song had eluded her once more.

It'd occur quite frequently, actually.

The melody would arrive more as a write-or-die rush or the sensation of drowning; during a mere lunch break it'd hit her, etch itself briefly into a repetitive, sweet song and by the time she shot up from the two puzzled twins, as if waking from a nightmare... She'd be speeding towards the Hall of the Arts; stray fragments scattered aimlessly through her mind and melting like snowflakes to the warm fog or touch. Sliding onto the old bench, she'd strike a single key and with that the song was gone.

Kelsi massaged her temples thoroughly and glared at the colorless keys before her. Half the original pieces were due by Tuesday for the Spring Musical; and at this rate she'd be finished by next month, or so.

"Hey, small person."

A furious blush welded onto her cheeks as her body lightly sprung upwards. Her eyes hurriedly fell onto the sheet; busily scrawling random notes onto it as the smell of wet ink intoxicated her soul.

"Hi, Chad."

Kelsi didn't exactly... Like him, per se... She just, found herself more timid than usual in the jock's presence, was all. At times he wasn't the nicest of any of them. She learned this personally with a large spitball here and a little shove in the hallway while passing her there.

She always deemed them playful, generally. But he always knew how and when and where to cross the line and just the right degree to do it.

She hated that.

But, other than these...

Chad had his, moments...

These were mostly directed to an irritable and snappish Sharpay Evans. Although the blonde seemed to, soften enough to offer a coy smirk and on her best days, she'd toss him a giggle laced with flirt. After this and about two seconds after the bell rang for Gym he'd wink at the meek brunette, following in her shadow.

And her breath would catch and her mouth would gape just the slightest bit whenever he'd turn to leave and her stomach would chill, ripple and her heart would melt and coat her lungs. And those _eyes!_ _Oh!_ Those caramel, sleek and suave brown eyes that'd send her mind awhirl and all this would cause the blonde to smirk knowingly at her but she couldn't care less because he was the--

As she said, she had no interest in him.

But somehow she found herself unable to form a coherent sentence about his purpose for coming here. It was downright peculiar. Unexpected. The _last_ place she'd ever look to find such a sport-obsessed, smug, curly-haired, little freak of nature like him. Kelsi found herself spurting out the question carefully, and while she'd controlled her words a smirk weaved its way past her and tugged fiercely at the corner of her lips. God. Kelsi swore she had multiple personality disorder. The sane part of her wanted to back-slap that grin clear into next week.

Chad smiled, gently. There was a warmth to it but a bit of indecisiveness as well.

"I was just--You know I--My dad kind of signed me up for--piano lessons," He chuckled, muttering something about bettering himself and keeping out of trouble. "And--But I mean if you're..." He bit his lip, hands buried in his pockets as he shifted his weight.

He was never good with musicians. They were a class all their own and communication with them always seemed to end in uproars and clique wars and riots led by blonde, pink-obsessed, angry women.

Again her mouth went limp and with awkward, rushed dismissal, she gathered her things. The farther away from hopeless depths of embarrasment, the better.

"That's okay," He piped, feeling guilty. Chad sat beside her and gently took the sheets from her cold, trembling hands; placing the ruffled and crinkling papers back on the stand, straightening them out and reading them. Kelsi stared silently, hands folded on her lap; awed.

"Could I?" He trailed, glancing at her. She found herself nodding.

His fingers glazed over the keys without effort, resting for less than a moment on each as the true core of the song spilled forth into the warm and stale air of the auditorium. An overworked light buzzed languidly as his pace slurred; coming to the break of the notes.

"Stuck, huh?" She gave a sheepish nod whilst pursing her lips; unnoticed. "...It's really pretty," He mused, taking a small double-glance at her; judging her reaction. She feigned a smile as her subconscious floated elsewhere. It didn't seem to like this too much for it began channeling the pounding of her heart to the pulsing of her head.

Awkward pause...

"What's it about?"

Her face grew hot.

"...Falling in love." Kelsi must've stuttered at least three times during the first word.

"It's, for the upcoming musical." The brunette added, twirling the uncapped pen like a baton as she avoided his eyes.

"You play?" She blurted the obvious, aiming for a nice blasé coat of her words. It didn't happen, of course. She nibbled her lip as it curled inwards shamefully. He smirked, rubbing his neck slowly.

"Don't tell anyone?" It came out more as a friendly proposal for a promise than anything else. Their eyes met, once again she juggled her actions with her thoughts and tore her eyes off of him before the staring contest dragged on any longer than a few seconds.

"Yeah," She giggled softly, with a grin. Kelsi no sooner tapped into her alter ego and wrote it a note to knock her around a few times, until she regained her sanity again. She always lost it with him.

"Kelsi?" He inquired, formally.

More babbling.

"Kelsi." He stated.

Even more nervous Kelsi babbling.

"Small person." Breath abate, she looked up. He lifted her chin and pulled her into a soft kiss.

Her pulse halted abruptly for those few vital seconds.

* * *

**So, yeah. My first Chad x Kelsi ever. It hit me while we were in Tennessee to visit a friend for a few days. Thank goodness I brought my notebook, huh? I hope ya'll (listen to me) ;) like it. The title? Yea maybe it doesn't fit but impulse hit me and it sounded better than just plain old 'untitled'. I guess you can say I'm a bit of an oddball; being into pairings like this and Jimella (under my own same age AU) and Chadpay and some of the more normal pairings as well. But that makes me a beautiful oddball because I am unique. :p So there. Review plz!**


End file.
